Department of Music News

4 WKU students honored in multimedia team competition

Two Western Kentucky University students will compete for national championships in the 2023-2024 Hearst Journalism Awards Program and four other WKU students were honored in the year’s final multimedia competition.

Brett Phelps of Bardstown is one of six finalists for the National Photojournalism Championship, while Rhiannon Johnston of Louisville is one of five finalists for the National Multimedia Championship. The Hearst program’s 64th annual National Writing, Photojournalism, Audio, Television and Multimedia Championships will be held June 1-7 in San Francisco, California.

WKU students have won 16 Hearst individual national championships since 1985 — photojournalism in 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2016; multimedia in 2015 and 2023; writing in 1985; and radio news in 2006.

In the Multimedia Digital News or Enterprise Story Team Competition, Arthur H. Trickett-Wile of San Antonio, Texas, and Allie Schallert of New Windsor, New York, finished third and received a $1,500 award, while Gabi Broekema of Bowling Green and Anna Leachman of Louisville finished fourth and received a $1,000 award. WKU’s School of Media & Communication receives matching grants.

WKU finished second in the Hearst program’s 2023-2024 Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition. Earlier this spring, WKU placed fourth in the Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition and 10^th in the Intercollegiate Broadcast Competition.

The Hearst program will announce the top finishers in the 2023-2024 Overall Intercollegiate Competition next week and will present the awards during the national championships in San Francisco. WKU has ranked in the top five nationally for 14 consecutive years and has placed in the top eight for 30 straight years with four overall championships in 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2018.

Often called “The Pulitzers of college journalism,” the Hearst program includes five writing, two photo, one audio, two television and four multimedia competitions offering up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends. Currently, 105 member universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs are eligible to participate in the Hearst competitions.

The top 10 schools in the Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition (highest accumulated student points from the four multimedia competitions) were: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; WKU; Syracuse University; University of Florida; University of Nevada, Reno; University of Missouri; Pennsylvania State University; Arizona State University; and Stony Brook University.

The top 10 schools in the Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition (highest accumulated student points from the two photo competitions) were: University of Iowa; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; University of Missouri; WKU; Michigan State University; San Francisco State University; Ohio University; University of North Texas; Iowa State University; and University of Kentucky.

The top 10 schools in the Intercollegiate Broadcast Competition (highest accumulated student points from the three broadcast competitions) were: Syracuse University; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; University of Missouri; University of Florida; Pennsylvania State University; Arizona State University; University of Maryland; Kent State University; Ohio University; and WKU.

WKU has won the Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition 29 times in the past 35 years and has won the Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition nine times since it was added in 2010.

Contact: School of Media & Communication, (270) 745-4144.

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Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, our students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.